Relevant Matter
Public policy or programme
Public Policy Area
Agriculture
Period
1 Jan. 2026 to 30 Apr. 2026
Specific Details
Double Standards - Bord Bia
Intended results
That, while it is legal to import Brazilian beef, the IFA believe that it is total hypocrisy that the Chair of Bord Bia, who imports Brazilian Beef for his own business, is constantly telling Irish farmers that they must reach even higher standards to satisfy his customers. This has caused huge anger among farmers.
To highlight that Bord Bia, who operate Ireland's Quality Assurance (QA) schemes for dairy, beef, sheep, pigs, poultry, eggs, potatoes and horticulture insist on strict compliance of Irish farmers with their requirements and are subject to regular audits and inspections by them.
That Irish farmers are frequently told by Bord Bia that higher standards at farm level are required to satisfy customer needs and are actively engaging with IFA seeking to introduce higher standards.
Farmers have been lectured for years by Government and Bord Bia about sustainability and carbon emissions yet the Chair of Bord Bia is importing beef and possibly other meats across the world which have multiple times the carbon footprint of Irish beef.
To point out that Bord Bia is funded by the taxpayer and a Statutory Levy collected from Irish farmers worth circa €6m each year.
That IFA called for a meeting of the Board of Bord Bia to discuss this very serious matter and this was granted after a second written request.
To highlight that Dawn Farm Foods states on its website that all of their products have 'complete farm to fork traceability', while importing meat from Brazil where there is no effective traceability system in place. Dawn Farm Foods is also a member of Origin Green and have been awarded 'Gold Membership of Origin Green programme'. Irish farmers cannot reconcile this with importing Brazilian beef.
To emphasise that , during an IFA investigation in Brazil in 2025, it was found that antibiotics were freely available over the counter and hormones that are banned in the EU were in use in Brazil. The EU, following an audit, recalled quantities of Brazilian beef from a number of Member States, including Ireland that were found to have a banned hormone in the meat. By the time the meat was recalled in Ireland it had been sold on and consumed.
To publicly call for the resignation of the Chair of Bord Bia or to be removed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
To commence a rolling 24-hour protest outside Bord Bia headquarters.
Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity
Francie Gorman IFA President, Damian McDonald IFA Director General, Elaine Farrell IFA Director of Governance & Oireachtas Engagement, Tadhg Buckley IFA Director of Policy & Chief Economist, Tomas Bourke IFA Senior Policy Executive, James Walsh IFA Policy Executive
Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?)
No
Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign?
No
Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client?
No
Lobbying activity
The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.
Informal communication (11-20)
Designated public officials lobbied
The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them.
As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.
Barry Cowen
MEP (European Parliament)
Martin Heydon
Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)